Search results for: business improvement district

Authors: Mimi Roy, Sriroop Chaudhuri

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Sustainable water supply is among the basic needs for human development, especially in the rural areas of the developing nations where safe water supply and basic sanitation infrastructure is direly needed. In light of the above, we propose a simple methodology to develop a composite water sustainability index (WSI) to assess the collective performance of the existing rural water supply services (RWSS) in India over time. The WSI will be computed by summarizing the details of all the different varieties of water supply schemes presently available in India comprising of 40 liters per capita per day (lpcd), 55 lpcd, and piped water supply (PWS) per household. The WSI will be computed annually, between 2010 and 2016, to elucidate changes in holistic RWSS performances. Results will be integrated within a robust geospatial framework to identify the ‘hotspots’ (states/districts) which have persistent issues over adequate RWSS coverage and warrant spatially-optimized policy reforms in future to address sustainable human development. Dataset will be obtained from the National Rural Drinking Water Program (NRDWP), operating under the aegis of the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation (MoDWS), at state/district/block levels to offer the authorities a cross-sectional view of RWSS at different levels of administrative hierarchy. Due to simplistic design, complemented by spatio-temporal cartograms, similar approaches can also be adopted in other parts of the world where RWSS need a thorough appraisal.

Keywords: rural water supply services, piped water supply, sustainability, composite index, spatial, drinking water

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Authors: Save Kumwenda, Khumbo Kalulu, Kondwani Chidziwisano, Limbani Kalumbi, Vincent Doyle, Bagrey Ngwira

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Introduction: The Malawi Government in partnership with Non-Governmental Organizations adopted Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) in 2008 as an approach in sanitation and hygiene promotion with an aim of declaring Malawi Open Defeacation Free (ODF) by 2015. While there is a significant body of research into CLTS available in public domain, there is little research done on challenges faced in implementing CLTS in Malawi. Methods: A cross-sectional qualitative study was carried out in three districts of Ntcheu, Balaka, and Phalombe. Data was collected using Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and Key informant interviews (KII) and analysed manually. Results: In total, 96 people took part in FGDs and 9 people in KII. It was shown that choice of leaders after triggering was commonly done by chiefs, facilitators, and VHC without following CLTS principles as opposed to identifying individuals who showed leadership skills. Despite capacity building initiatives involving District Coordinating Teams, lack of resources to undertake follow-ups contributed to failure to sustain ODF in the community. It was also found that while most respondents appreciating the need for no subsidies, the elderly and those with disabilities felt the need for external support because do not have money for buying strong logs, slabs for durable toilet floor and also to hire people to build latrines for them. Conclusion: Effective implementation of CLTS requires comprehensive consideration of various issues that may affect its success.

Keywords: open defecation, community-led, sanitation, faecal matter, hygiene, Malawi

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Authors: Joanna K. Konstantinou

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The aim of this study is to explore the need of small and medium-sized businesses in tourism and hospitality industry to adopt technology and enhance their degree of digitalization, along with the main benefits enjoyed by technology and the main challenges that hinder its adoption. Within a hermeneutic phenomenological perspective, semi-structured interviews were conducted with three hotel owners and the focus was to identify the main reasons of adoption of technology, enablers and barriers. The findings were grouped with the goal of identifying typology of business practices in using and adopting technology.

Keywords: digitization, SMEs, tourism and hospitality, challenges, benefits

Procedia PDF Downloads 239

Authors: B. S. Bajwa, Parminder Singh, Prabhjot Singh, Surinder Singh, B. K. Sahoo, B. K. Sapra

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A follow up study was taken up in a mineralized zone situated in Hamirpur district, Himachal Pradesh, India to investigate high values of radon concentration reported in past studies as well to update the old radon data based on bare SSNTD technique. In the present investigation, indoor radon, thoron and their decay products concentrations have been measured using the newly developed Radon-Thoron discriminating diffusion chamber with single entry face, direct radon and thoron progeny sensors (DRPS/DTPS) respectively. The measurements have been carried out in seventy five dwellings of fourteen different villages. Houses were selected taking into consideration of the past data as well as the type of houses such as mud, concrete, brick etc. It was observed that high values of earlier reported radon concentrations were mainly because of thoron interference in the Solid State Nuclear Track Detector (LR-115 type II) exposed in bare mode. Now, the average concentration values and the estimated annual inhalation dose in these villages have been found to be within the reference level as recommended by the ICRP. The annual average indoor radon and thoron concentrations observed in these dwellings have been found to vary from 44±12-157±73 Bq m-3 and 44±11-240±125 Bq m-3 respectively. The equilibrium equivalent concentrations of radon and thoron decay products have been observed to be in the range of 10-63 Bq m-3 and 1-5 Bq m-3 respectively.

Keywords: radon, thoron, progeny concentration, dosimeter

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Authors: Hui-Ling Yang, Kuei-Ru Chou

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Background: Studies show that cognitive training can effectively delay cognitive failure. However, there are several gaps in the previous studies of cognitive training in mild cognitive impairment: 1) previous studies enrolled mostly healthy older adults, with few recruiting older adults with cognitive impairment; 2) they also had limited generalizability and lacked long-term follow-up data and measurements of the activities of daily living functional impact. Moreover, only 37% were randomized controlled trials (RCT). 3) Limited cognitive training has been specifically developed for mild cognitive impairment. Objective: This study sought to investigate the changes in cognitive function, activities of daily living and degree of depressive symptoms in older adults with mild cognitive impairment after cognitive training. Methods: This double-blind randomized controlled study has a 2-arm parallel group design. Study subjects are older adults diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment in residential care facilities. 124 subjects will be randomized by the permuted block randomization, into intervention group (Cognitive training, CT), or active control group (Passive information activities, PIA). Therapeutic adherence, sample attrition rate, medication compliance and adverse events will be monitored during the study period, and missing data analyzed using intent-to-treat analysis (ITT). Results: Training sessions of the CT group are 45 minutes/day, 3 days/week, for 12 weeks (36 sessions each). The training of active control group is the same as CT group (45min/day, 3days/week, for 12 weeks, for a total of 36 sessions). The primary outcome is cognitive function, using the Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE); the secondary outcome indicators are: 1) activities of daily living, using the Lawton’s Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADLs) and 2) degree of depressive symptoms, using the Geriatric Depression Scale-Short form (GDS-SF). Latent growth curve modeling will be used in the repeated measures statistical analysis to estimate the trajectory of improvement by examining the rate and pattern of change in cognitive functions, activities of daily living and degree of depressive symptoms for intervention efficacy over time, and the effects will be evaluated immediate post-test, 3 months, 6 months and one year after the last session. Conclusions: We constructed a rigorous CT program adhering to the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) reporting guidelines. We expect to determine the improvement in cognitive function, activities of daily living and degree of depressive symptoms of older adults with mild cognitive impairment after using the CT.

Keywords: mild cognitive impairment, cognitive training, randomized controlled study

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Authors: M. H. Al-Mansoori, W. S. Al-Ghaithi, F. N. Hasoon

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In this paper, we experimentally investigate the performance of an efficient high gain triple-pass L-band Erbium-Doped Fiber (EDF) amplifier structure with a single pump source. The amplifier gain and noise figure variation with EDF pump power, input signal power and wavelengths have been investigated. The generated backward Amplified Spontaneous Emission (ASE) noise of the first amplifier stage is suppressed by using a tunable band-pass filter. The amplifier achieves a signal gain of 55 dB with low noise figure of 3.8 dB at -50 dBm input signal power. The amplifier gain shows significant improvement of 12.8 dB compared to amplifier structure without ASE suppression.

Keywords: optical amplifiers, EDFA, L-band, optical networks

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Authors: Yajing Jiang, Jing Wu

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Residential area construction links many problems such as population resources, ecology, social values, public services and transportation in the city. After Chinese housing reform, a large number of residential area development accompanied by the loss of agricultural and ecological land. To explore the future of Chinese urban residential area, this article concentrates on how the 'Compact Settlement' behaves in improving the living environment and saving the resources. Through the research of residential area in Hangzhou, there are some determines that increasing the development intensity of the area can indeed bring some improvement in the overall environment. In conclusion, possible design alternatives are discussed for leading Chinese urban development towards a more sustainable path.

Keywords: compact city development, environmental sustainability, residential area, Hangzhou

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Authors: Ahmed Khalil, Hatem M. El-Desoky

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The present paper deals with the petrography and geochemistry of the Basic Dokhan Volcanics, Eastern Desert, Egypt. The basalts from Gabal Wassif, Atalla volcanics and Gabal Esh Mellaha were tested for use as aggregates in concrete mixes. The representative twelve samples were collected from areas. These samples were examined by using a petrographic microscope to evaluate sample texture, degree of alteration and the presence of volcanic glass in the matrix. The results obtained indicate that basalt can be used successfully for preparing concrete, but some attention should be paid to the choice of the suitable types of basalt. A general improvement in concrete mix properties has been found by using basalt aggregates in the mix.

Keywords: basic Dokhan volcanics, petrography, geochemistry, petrogenesis and concrete aggregates

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Authors: Rob van den Dam

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Today’s Internet of Things (IoT) comprises more than a billion intelligent devices, connected via wired/wireless communications. The expected proliferation of hundreds of billions more places us at the threshold of a transformation sweeping across the communications industry. Yet, we found that the IoT architecture and solutions that currently work for billions of devices won’t necessarily scale to tomorrow’s hundreds of billions of devices because of high cost, lack of privacy, not future-proof, lack of functional value and broken business models. As the IoT scales exponentially, decentralized networks have the potential to reduce infrastructure and maintenance costs to manufacturers. Decentralization also promises increased robustness by removing single points of failure that could exist in traditional centralized networks. By shifting the power in the network from the center to the edges, devices gain greater autonomy and can become points of transactions and economic value creation for owners and users. To validate the underlying technology vision, IBM jointly developed with Samsung Electronics the autonomous decentralized peer-to- peer proof-of-concept (PoC). The primary objective of this PoC was to establish a foundation on which to demonstrate several capabilities that are fundamental to building a decentralized IoT. Though many commercial systems in the future will exist as hybrid centralized-decentralized models, the PoC demonstrated a fully distributed proof. The PoC (a) validated the future vision for decentralized systems to extensively augment today’s centralized solutions, (b) demonstrated foundational IoT tasks without the use of centralized control, (c) proved that empowered devices can engage autonomously in marketplace transactions. The PoC opens the door for the communications and electronics industry to further explore the challenges and opportunities of potential hybrid models that can address the complexity and variety of requirements posed by the internet that continues to scale. Contents: (a) The new approach for an IoT that will be secure and scalable, (b) The three foundational technologies that are key for the future IoT, (c) The related business models and user experiences, (d) How such an IoT will create an 'Economy of Things', (e) The role of users, devices, and industries in the IoT future, (f) The winners in the IoT economy.

Keywords: IoT, internet, wired, wireless

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Authors: Robert Grzeszczak

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The article deals with one of the most significant issues concerning the functioning of the public sector in the European Union. The objectives of good governance were formulated by the EU itself and also the Scholars in reaction to the discussion that started a decade ago and concerned the role of the government in 21st century, the future of integration processes and globalization challenges in Europe. Currently, the concept of good governance is mainly associated with the improvement of management of public policies in the European Union, concerning both domestic and EU policies. However, it goes beyond the issues of state capacity and effectiveness of management. Good governance relates also to societal participation in the public administration and verification of decisions made in public authorities’ (including public administration). Indirectly, the concept and practice of good governance are connected to societal legitimisation of public bodies in the European Union.

Keywords: good governance, government, European law, European Union

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Authors: Tarek Aboueldahab, Amin Mohamed Nassar

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Wind energy is a fluctuating energy source unlike conventional power plants, thus, it is necessary to accurately predict short term wind speed to integrate wind energy in the electricity supply structure. To do so, we present a hybrid artificial intelligence model of short term wind speed prediction based on passive aggregation of the particle swarm optimization and neural networks. As a result, improvement of the prediction accuracy is obviously obtained compared to the standard artificial intelligence method.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, neural networks, particle swarm optimization, passive aggregation, wind speed prediction

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Authors: G. S. Sumanasekara, W. M. P. B. Weerasingheg

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The major problem associated with concentrate feeds used for feeding cattle is declining quality by contamination with Aflatoxins. Objective: The aim of the study was to detect levels of Aflatoxin M1(AFM1) in cow milk , AFM1 levels present in milk related to different feed types and to identify the relationship between feed type and Aflatoxin M1 in milk. Design: cross sectional study design. Milk samples from each farm assessed for presence of AFM1 using High Performance Liquid Chromatographic method. Setting: Ten dairy farms located in Nuwara-Eliya district were randomly selected.AFM1 analysis was done using High Performance Liquid Chromatography(HPLC). Results: The results indicated that AFM1 was present in 50% of samples. Coconut poonac shown the most significant relationship among individual feeds having a correlation of 0.65 and P value of 0.042 . Among feed combinations, coconut poonac and beer pulp combination showed the highest correlation of 0.77 and P value of 0.05. Grasses had shown a very poor relationship with the AFM1 occurrence in milk (r=0.053, P=0.885). Relationship between overall concentrate feeds in the study and AFM1 in milk, it was clear that they had a significant relationship having correlation of 0.65 and P value of 0.042. Majority of samples lied between 0-10 ng L-1 of AFM1 and one sample exceeded above 30 ng L-1. Two samples had AFM1 concentrations between 22-32 ng L-1. One sample lied between 32-42ng L-1, did not exceed the EU recommended level of 50 ng L-1. The presence of AFM1 in milk under various management and feeding conditions is yet to be investigated in Sri Lanka.

Keywords: aflatoxin M1, aspergillus, cattle feed, concentrates, cow milk, high perforamance liquid chromatography

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Authors: Kuo-Wei Hsu, Wei-Chin Lo

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In these years, urban agriculture development has been wide spreading all over the world. The development of urban agriculture is an evolution process of highly urbanization, as well as an agricultural phenomenon closely related to the development of economy, society and culture in urban areas. It provides densely populated areas with multi-functional uses of land, impacting strategic development of both large and small towns in the area. In addition, the participation of social enterprises keeps industrial competitiveness and makes gains when facing rapid transformation of industrial structures and new patterns of lifestyles in urban areas. They create better living conditions as well as protect the environment with innovative business beliefs, which give new ways for development of urban agriculture. Also, through building up the value chain, these social enterprises are capable of creating value for urban agriculture. Most of research regarding to social enterprises currently explore the relationship between corporate responsibilities and its role play, operational mode and performance and organizational patterns. Merely some of them discuss the function of social entrepreneurship in the development of urban agriculture. Moreover, none of them have explored the value creation for development of urban agriculture processed by social enterprises, as well as how social enterprises operate to increase competitive advantages, which make it possible to achieve industrial innovation, increase corporate value and even provide services with value creation. Therefore, this research mainly reviews current business patterns and operational conditions of social enterprises. This research endowed social responsibilities, and discusses current development process of urban agriculture. This research adopts Value Chain perspective to discuss key factors for value creation with respect to the development of urban agriculture processed by social enterprises. Thereby after organization and integration this research develops the prospect of value creation referring to urban agriculture processed by social enterprises and builds the value chain for urban agriculture. In conclusion, this research explored the relationship between value chain and value creation, which relates to values of customer, enterprise, society and economy referring to the development of urban agriculture uniquely, in consideration of the participation of social enterprises, and hence built the connection between value chain and value creation in the development of urban agriculture by social enterprises. The research found, social enterprises help to enhance the connection between the enterprise value and society value, mold corporate image with social responsibility and create brand value, and therefore impact the increase of economic value.

Keywords: urban agriculture development, value chain, social enterprise, urban systems

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Authors: A. M. Sultana, Norhirdawati Binti Mhd Zahir, Norzalan Hadi Yaacob

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Recently in Malaysia, women's participation in teaching profession has increased. The increasing trend of women’s participation in the teaching profession poses challenges in families, especially in the developing countries like Malaysia. One of these challenges, concerns in balancing their role between family and job responsibility that faced by many women teachers. The purpose of this study is to discover how women teachers' impact on family happiness and the challenges faced by them in balancing their role between family and job responsibility. The findings presented in this study are based on survey research in a secondary school Dato’ Bijaya Setia in the district of Gugusan Manjoi which is located in Kedah, Malaysia. The study found that employment of women in economic activity has several beneficial impacts of improving the economic condition of the family. The results also revealed that in low income earning families, both husbands and wives’ employment contribute to the family income that less likely to experience of family poverty. The study also showed despite women's teachers’ significant role towards the overall development of the family, the majority of women teachers encountered a number of difficulties in balancing their role between family and job responsibility especially when they need to work more than the normal working time. Therefore, it is common for the majority of women suffering from psychological stress when they are unable to complete the task at a fixed time. The present study also suggests implication of family friendly policy and its appropriate practice to support the women teachers who are significantly contributing to family, community and the country.

Keywords: emotional exhaustion, family friendly policy, work family conflict, women teacher

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Authors: Panda Krouse

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This work is a marriage of the science of Applied Behavioral Analysis and an educator’s look at Neuroscience. The focus is integrating what we know about the anatomy of the brain in autism and evidence-based practices in education. It is a bold attempt to present links between neurological research and the application of evidence-based practices in education. In researching for this work, no discovery of articles making these connections was made. Consideration of the areas of structural differences in the brain are aligned with evidence-based strategies. A brief literary review identifies how identified areas affect overt behavior, which is what, as educators, is what we can see and measure. Giving further justification and validation of our practices in education from a second scientific field is significant for continued improvement in intervention for students on the autism spectrum.

Keywords: autism, evidence based practices, neurological differences, education intervention

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Authors: Hanan Bin Nakhi, Asaad M. Albadrawi, Maged Al Shahat, ‎Entesar Mandani

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Background:‎ Kawasaki disease (KD) is one of the most common vasculitis of childhood. ‎It is considered the leading cause of acquired heart disease in children. The ‎peak age of occurrence is 6 to 24 months, with 80% of affected children being ‎less than 5 years old. There are only a few reports of KD in infants younger ‎than 6 months. Infants had a higher incidence of atypical KD and of coronary ‎artery complications. This case report from Kuwait will reinforce considering ‎atypical KD in case of sepsis like condition with negative cultures and ‎unresponding to systemic antibiotics. Early diagnosis allows early treatment ‎with intravenous immune globulin (IVIG) and so decreases the incidence of ‎cardiac aneurysm.‎ Case Report:‎ A 2 month old female infant, product of full term normal delivery to ‎consanguineous parents, presented with fever and poor feeding. She was ‎admitted and treated as urinary tract infection as her urine routine revealed ‎pyurea. The baby continued to have persistent fever and hypoactivity inspite ‎of using intravenous antibiotics. Latter, she developed non purulent ‎conjunctivitis, skin mottling, oedema of the face / lower limb and was treated ‎in intensive care unit as a case of septic shock. In spite of her partial general ‎improvement, she continued to look unwell, hypoactive and had persistent ‎fever. Septic work up, metabolic, and immunologic screen were negative. KD ‎was suspected when the baby developed polymorphic erythematous rash and ‎noticed to have peeling of skin at perianal area and periangular area of the ‎fingers of the hand and feet. IVIG was given in dose of 2 gm/kg/day in single ‎dose and aspirin 100 mg/kg/day in four divided doses. The girl showed marked ‎clinical improvement. The fever subsided dramatically and the level acute ‎phase reactant markedly decreased but the platelets count increased to ‎‎1600000/mm3. Echo cardiography showed mild dilatation of mid right ‎coronary artery. Aspirin was continued in a dose of 5 mg/kg/d till repeating ‎cardiac echo. ‎Conclusion:‎ A high index of suspicion of KD must be maintained in young infants with ‎prolonged unexplained fever. Accepted criteria should be less restrictive to ‎allow early diagnosis of a typical KD in infants less than 6 months of age. ‎Timely appropriate treatment with IVIG is essential to avoid severe coronary ‎sequels.‎

Keywords: Kawasaki disease, atypical Kawasaki disease, infantile Kawasaki disease, hypo activity‎ ‎

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Authors: Felicia Kikelomo Oluwalola

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The study was designed to identify the challenges to change and innovation in educational system in Nigeria. Educational institutions, like all other organizations, require constant monitoring, to identify areas for potential improvement. However, educational reforms are often not well-implemented. This results in massive wastage of finances, human resources, and lost potential. Educational institutions are organised on many levels, from the individual classroom under the management of a single teacher, to groups of classrooms supervised by a Head Teacher or Executive Teacher, to a whole-school structure, under the guidance of the principal. Therefore, there is need for changes and innovation in our educational system since we are in the era of computer age. In doing so, this paper examined the psychology of change, concept of change and innovation with suggested view points. Educational administrators and individuals should be ready to have the challenge of monitoring changes in technologies. Educational planners/policy makers should be encouraged to involve in change process.

Keywords: challenges, change, education, innovation

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Authors: Amir Ikram, Faisal Ijaz, Qin Su

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The empirical study was undertaken to explore the determinants of non-performing loans (NPLs) of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) sector held by the commercial banks. Primary data was collected through well-structured survey questionnaire from credit analysts/bankers of 42 branches of 9 commercial banks, operating in the district of Lahore (Pakistan), for 2014-2015. Selective descriptive analysis and Pearson chi-square technique were used to illustrate and evaluate the significance of different variables affecting NPLs. Branch age, duration of the loan, and credit policy were found to be significant determinants of NPLs. The study proposes that bank-specific and SME-specific microeconomic variables directly influence NPLs, while macroeconomic factors act as intermediary variables. Framework exhibiting causal nexus of NPLs was also drawn on the basis of empirical findings. The results elaborate various origins of NPLs and suggest that they are primarily instigated by the loan sanctioning procedure of the financial institution. The paper also underlines the risk management practices adopted by the bank at branch level to averse the risk of loan default. Empirical investigation of bank-specific microeconomic factors of NPLs with respect to Pakistan’s economy is the novelty of the study. Broader strategic policy implications are provided for credit analysts and entrepreneurs.

Keywords: commercial banks, microeconomic factors, non-performing loans, small and medium enterprises

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Authors: Natalie Tyldesley-Marshall, Janette Parr, Anna Brown, Yen-Fu Chen, Amy Grove

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It is widely recognised in policy and research that the provision of services for children and young people (CYP) with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) is enhanced when health and social care, and education services collaborate and interact effectively. In the UK, there have been significant changes to policy and provisions which support and improve collaboration. However, professionals responsible for implementing these changes face multiple challenges, including a lack of specific implementation guidance or framework to illustrate how effective multi-agency working could or should work. This systematic review will identify the key components of effective multi-agency working in services for CYP with SEND; and the most effective forms of partnership working in this setting. The review highlights interventions that lead to service improvements; and the conditions in the local area that support and encourage success. A protocol was written and registered with PROSPERO registration: CRD42022352194. Searches were conducted on several health, care, education, and applied social science databases from the year 2012 onwards. Citation chaining has been undertaken, as well as broader grey literature searching to enrich the findings. Qualitative, quantitative, mixed methods studies and systematic reviews were included, assessed independently, and critically appraised or assessed for risk of bias using appropriate tools based on study design. Data were extracted in NVivo software and checked by a more experienced researcher. A convergent segregated approach to synthesis and integration was used in which the quantitative and qualitative data were synthesised independently and then integrated using a joint display integration matrix. Findings demonstrate the key ingredients for effective partnership working for services delivering SEND. Interventions deemed effective are described, and lessons learned across interventions are summarised. Results will be of interest to educators and health and social care professionals that provide services to those with SEND. These will also be used to develop policy recommendations for how UK healthcare, social care, and education services for CYP with SEND aged 0-25 can most effectively collaborate and achieve service improvement. The review will also identify any gaps in the literature to recommend areas for future research. Funding for this review was provided by the Department for Education.

Keywords: collaboration, joint commissioning, service delivery, service improvement

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Authors: Mohamed Fairooz Abdul Khir

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The linkage between liability for risk and legitimacy of reward is a governing principle that must be fully observed in financial transactions. It is the cornerstone of any Islamic business or financial deal. The absence of risk taking principle may give rise to numerous prohibited elements such as ribā, gharar and gambling that violate the objectives of financial transactions. However, fiqhī domains from which it emanates have not been clearly spelled out by the scholars. In addition, the concept of risk taking in relation to contemporary risks associated with financial contracts, such as credit risk, liquidity risk, reputational risk and market risk, needs further scrutiny as regard their Sharīʿah bases. Hence, this study is imperatively significant to prove that absence of risk taking concept in Islamic financial instruments give rise to prohibited elements particularly ribā. This study is primarily intended to clarify the concept of risk in Islamic financial transactions from the fiqhī perspective and evaluate analytically the selected issues involving risk taking based on the established concept of risk taking from fiqhī viewpoint. The selected issues are amongst others charging cost of fund on defaulting customers, holding the lessee liable for total loss of leased asset under ijārah thumma al-bayʿ and capital guarantee under mushārakah based instruments. This is a library research in which data has been collected from various materials such as classical fiqh books, regulators’ policy guidelines and journal articles. This study employed deductive and inductive methods to analyze the data critically in search for conclusive findings. It suggests that business risks have to be evaluated based on their subjects namely (i) property (māl) and (ii) work (ʿamal) to ensure that Islamic financial instruments structured based on certain Sharīʿah principles are not diverted from the risk taking concept embedded in them. Analysis of the above selected cases substantiates that when risk taking principle is breached, the prohibited elements such as ribā, gharar and maysir do arise and that they impede the realization of the maqāṣid al-Sharīʿah intended from Islamic financial contracts.

Keywords: Islamic finance, ownership risk, ribā, risk taking

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Authors: Mona Isazad Mashinchi, Davood Roshan Sangachin, Francis J. Sullivan, Dietrich Rebholz-Schuhmann

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Background: Decision-making processes are nowadays driven by data, data analytics and Business Intelligence (BI). BI as a software platform can provide a wide variety of capabilities such as organization memory, information integration, insight creation and presentation capabilities. Visualizing data through dashboards is one of the BI solutions (for a variety of areas) which helps managers in the decision making processes to expose the most informative information at a glance. In the healthcare domain to date, dashboard presentations are more frequently used to track performance related metrics and less frequently used to monitor those quality parameters which relate directly to patient outcomes. Providing effective and timely care for patients and improving the health outcome are highly dependent on presenting and visualizing data and information. Objective: In this research, the focus is on the presentation capabilities of BI to design a dashboard for prostate cancer (PC) data that allows better decision making for the patients, the hospital and the healthcare system related to a cancer dataset. The aim of this research is to customize a retrospective PC dataset in a dashboard interface to give a better understanding of data in the categories (risk factors, treatment approaches, disease control and side effects) which matter most to patients as well as other stakeholders. By presenting the outcome in the dashboard we address one of the major targets of a value-based health care (VBHC) delivery model which is measuring the value and presenting the outcome to different actors in HC industry (such as patients and doctors) for a better decision making. Method: For visualizing the stored data to users, three interactive dashboards based on the PC dataset have been developed (using the Tableau Software) to provide better views to the risk factors, treatment approaches, and side effects. Results: Many benefits derived from interactive graphs and tables in dashboards which helped to easily visualize and see the patients at risk, better understanding the relationship between patient's status after treatment and their initial status before treatment, or to choose better decision about treatments with fewer side effects regarding patient status and etc. Conclusions: Building a well-designed and informative dashboard is related to three important factors including; the users, goals and the data types. Dashboard's hierarchies, drilling, and graphical features can guide doctors to better navigate through information. The features of the interactive PC dashboard not only let doctors ask specific questions and filter the results based on the key performance indicators (KPI) such as: Gleason Grade, Patient's Age and Status, but may also help patients to better understand different treatment outcomes, such as side effects during the time, and have an active role in their treatment decisions. Currently, we are extending the results to the real-time interactive dashboard that users (either patients and doctors) can easily explore the data by choosing preferred attribute and data to make better near real-time decisions.

Keywords: business intelligence, dashboard, decision making, healthcare, prostate cancer, value-based healthcare

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Authors: Liane J. Ioannou, Jonathan Serpell, Cino Bendinelli, David Walters, Jenny Gough, Dean Lisewski, Win Meyer-Rochow, Julie Miller, Duncan Topliss, Bill Fleming, Stephen Farrell, Andrew Kiu, James Kollias, Mark Sywak, Adam Aniss, Linda Fenton, Danielle Ghusn, Simon Harper, Aleksandra Popadich, Kate Stringer, David Watters, Susannah Ahern

Abstract:

BACKGROUND: There are significant variations in the management, treatment and outcomes of thyroid cancer, particularly in the role of: diagnostic investigation and pre-treatment scanning; optimal extent of surgery (total or hemi-thyroidectomy); use of active surveillance for small low-risk cancers; central lymph node dissections (therapeutic or prophylactic); outcomes following surgery (e.g. recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy, hypocalcaemia, hypoparathyroidism); post-surgical hormone, calcium and vitamin D therapy; and provision and dosage of radioactive iodine treatment. A proven strategy to reduce variations in the outcome and to improve survival is to measure and compare it using high-quality clinical registry data. Clinical registries provide the most effective means of collecting high-quality data and are a tool for quality improvement. Where they have been introduced at a state or national level, registries have become one of the most clinically valued tools for quality improvement. To benchmark clinical care, clinical quality registries require systematic measurement at predefined intervals and the capacity to report back information to participating clinical units. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to develop a core set clinical indicators that enable measurement and reporting of quality of care for patients with thyroid cancer. We hypothesise that measuring clinical quality indicators, developed to identify differences in quality of care across sites, will reduce variation and improve patient outcomes and survival, thereby lessening costs and healthcare burden to the Australian community. METHOD: Preparatory work and scoping was conducted to identify existing high quality, clinical guidelines and best practice for thyroid cancer both nationally and internationally, as well as relevant literature. A bi-national panel was invited to participate in a modified Delphi process. Panelists were asked to rate each proposed indicator on a Likert scale of 1–9 in a three-round iterative process. RESULTS: A total of 236 potential quality indicators were identified. One hundred and ninety-two indicators were removed to reflect the data capture by the Australian and New Zealand Thyroid Cancer Registry (ANZTCR) (from diagnosis to 90-days post-surgery). The remaining 44 indicators were presented to the panelists for voting. A further 21 indicators were later added by the panelists bringing the total potential quality indicators to 65. Of these, 21 were considered the most important and feasible indicators to measure quality of care in thyroid cancer, of which 12 were recommended for inclusion in the final set. The consensus indicator set spans the spectrum of care, including: preoperative; surgery; surgical complications; staging and post-surgical treatment planning; and post-surgical treatment. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides a core set of quality indicators to measure quality of care in thyroid cancer. This indicator set can be applied as a tool for internal quality improvement, comparative quality reporting, public reporting and research. Inclusion of these quality indicators into monitoring databases such as clinical quality registries will enable opportunities for benchmarking and feedback on best practice care to clinicians involved in the management of thyroid cancer.

Keywords: clinical registry, Delphi survey, quality indicators, quality of care

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Authors: Neetika Mahajan, Awanish Shukla

Abstract:

Entrepreneurship is key a driver to economic development. It opens opportunities for business startups and has potential to expand employment opportunities for many. Entrepreneurship gives ‘Purpose thriving’ approach towards society with new technologies and zeal to develop and compete in the market. There are many more advantages of entrepreneurship like freedom to scope of work and independence in setting own goals. Women contribute to nearly 50 percent of India’s population, constitute nearly 10 percent of a total number of entrepreneurs in India. Women are found to be better risk calculators, more ambitious and less prone to self-confidence. However, It is a hard fact that life has not been easy for women aspiring professional success. Gender parity is the biggest threat faced by female aspirant seeking new businesses. More challenges like socio-cultural barriers, insufficient financial assistance, etc. have been faced by the women of our country. To uplift the status of women in the society, a number of initiatives have been taken up by the Government of India. Initiatives like National Mission for Empowerment of Women by (Ministry of Women And Child Development) and SKILL INDIA aim to increase the technical skills and knowledge of women for tapping employment opportunities and self-confidence. Trade Related Entrepreneurship Assistance and Development (TREAD) Scheme and Mahila Coir Yojana are proposed by the Ministry of MSMEs aiming to facilitate employment opportunities for women and entrepreneurship development. This paper will aim to bring out the gaps and barriers, which are still resisting the potential women come upfront and start a new business irrespective of a number of initiatives being put by government of India. The aim is also to identify focus areas where further intervention is required and proposing suitable interventions. The methodology to take forward this research will include primary and secondary data collection from on ground survey to track various kind of challenges faced by aspirant women entrepreneurs. Insight will be put towards initiations by the government of India towards women empowerment and assistance to entrepreneurship. Scientific quantitative tools will be used to analyze collected information. The final output of the research shall focus on achieving the respective aims and objectives.

Keywords: women entrepreneurship, government programs and schemes, key challenges, economic development

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Authors: Valentin P. Velikov

Abstract:

Automatic program generation saves time, human resources, and allows receiving syntactically clear and logically correct modules. The 4-th generation programming languages are related to drawing the data and the processes of the subject area, as well as, to obtain a frame of the respective information system. The application can be separated in interface and business logic. That means, for an interactive generation of the needed system to be used an already existing toolkit or to be created a new one.

Keywords: computer science, graphical user interface, user dialog interface, dialog frames, data modeling, subject area modeling

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Authors: Peter Smolianov, Steven Dion, Christopher Schoen, Jaclyn Norberg, Nicholas Stone, Soufiane Rafi

Abstract:

This study assessed the micro-level elements of track and field development in the US against a model for integrating high-performance sport with mass participation. This investigation is important for the country’s international sport performance, which declined relative to other countries and wellbeing, which in its turn deteriorated as over half of the US population became overweight. A questionnaire was designed for the following elements of the model: talent identification and development as well as advanced athlete support. Survey questions were validated by 12 experts, including academics, executives from sport governing bodies, coaches, and administrators. To determine the areas for improvement, the questionnaires were completed by 102 US track and field coaches representing the country’s regions and coaching levels. Possible advancements were further identified through semi-structured discussions with 10 US track and field administrators. The study found that talent search and development is a critically important area for improvement: 49 percent of respondents had overall negative perceptions, and only 16 percent were positive regarding these US track and field practices. Both quantitative survey results and open responses revealed that the key reason for the inadequate athlete development was a shortage of well-educated and properly paid coaches: 77 percent of respondents indicated that coach expertise is never or rarely high across all participant ages and levels. More than 40 percent of the respondents were uncertain of or not familiar with world’s best talent identification and development practices, particularly methods of introducing children to track and field from outside the sport’s participation base. Millions more could be attracted to the sport by adopting best international practices. First, physical education should be offered a minimum three times a week in all school grades, and track and field together with other healthy sports, should be taught at school to all children. Second, multi-sport events, including track and field disciplines, should be organized for everyone within and among all schools, cities and regions. Three, Australian and Eastern European methods of talent search at schools should be utilized and tailored to the US conditions. Four, comprehensive long term athlete development guidelines should be used for the advancement of the American Development Model, particularly track and field tests and guidelines as part of both school education and high-performance athlete development for every age group from six to over 70 years old. These world’s best practices are to improve the country’s international performance while increasing national sport participation and positively influencing public health.

Keywords: high performance, mass participation, sport development, track and field, USA

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Authors: Dimitrios Vlachopoulos, George Tsokkas

Abstract:

Although it is not intended to identify distance education students as a homogeneous group, recent research has demonstrated that there are some demographic and personality common traits among most of them that provide the basis for the description of a typical distance learning student. The purpose of this paper is to describe these common traits and to facilitate their learning journey within a distance education program. The described research is an initiative of the Distance Education Unit at the European University Cyprus (Laureate International Universities) in the context of its action for the improvement of the students’ performance.

Keywords: distance education students, successful student performance, European University Cyprus, common traits

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Authors: Aleksandra Ibragimow, Moritz Albrecht, Eerika Albrecht

Abstract:

Close international cooperation between all countries within a river basin has become one of the key aspects of sustainable cross-border water management. This is due to the fact that water does not stop at administrative or political boundaries. Therefore, the preferred mode to protect and manage transnational water bodies is close cooperation between all countries and stakeholders within the natural hydrological unit of the river basin. However, past practices have demonstrated that combining interests of different countries and stakeholders with differing political systems and management approaches to environmental issues upstream as well as downstream can be challenging. The study focuses on particular problems and challenges of water management in international river basin districts by the example of the International Oder River Basin District. The Oder River is one of the largest cross-border rivers of the Baltic Sea basin passing through Poland, Germany, and the Czech Republic. Attention is directed towards the activities and the actions that were carried out during the Districts' first management cycle of transnational river basin management (2009-2015). The results show that actions of individual countries have been focused on the National Water Management Plans while a common appointment about identified supra-regional water management problems has not been solved, and conducted actions can be considered as preliminary and merely a basis for future management. This present state raises the question whether the achievement of main objectives of Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC) can be a realistic task.

Keywords: International River Basin Districts, water management, water frameworkdirective, water management plans

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Authors: Sania Maghsodloo, Sirus Mohammadi

Abstract:

Electric Vehicle (EV) technology is expected to take a major share in the light-vehicle market in the coming decades. Transportation electrification has become an important issue in recent decades and the large scale deployment of EVs has yet to be achieved. The smart coordination of EV demand addresses an improvement in the flexibility of power systems and reduces the costs of power system investment. The uncertainty in EV drivers’ behaviour is one of the main problems to solve to obtain an optimal integration of EVs into power systems Charging of EVs will put an extra burden on the distribution grid and in some cases adjustments will need to be made. The stochastic process of the driving pattern is done to make the outcome of the project more realistic. Based on the stochastic data, the optimization of charging plans is made.

Keywords: electric vehicles (PEVs), smart grid, Monticello, distribution system

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Authors: Cholpassorn Sitthiwarongchai

Abstract:

The purposes of this paper were to search for the uniqueness of community products from Bang Khonthi District, Samut Songkram Province, Thailand and to create a proper brand for the community products. Four important questions were asked to identify the uniqueness of the community products. The first question: What is the brand of coconut sugar that community wants to imply? The answer was 100 percent authentic coconut sugar. The second question: What is the nature of this product? The answer was that it is a natural product without any harmful chemical. The third question is: Who are the target customers? The answer was that homemakers and tourists are target customers. The fourth question: What is the brand guarantee to customers? The answer was that the brand guarantees that the product is 100 percent natural process with a high quality and it is a community production. The findings revealed that in terms of product, customers rated quality and package as the two most important factors. In terms of price, customers rated lower price and a visible label as the two most important factors. In terms of place, customer rated layout and the cleanliness of the place as the two most important factors. In terms of promotion, customer rated public relations and brochure at the store as the most important factors. From the group discussion, the local community agreed that the brand for the community coconut sugar of Salapi community should be a picture of a green coconut tree and yellow color background. This brand implies the strength of community and authentic of the high quality natural product.

Keywords: coconut sugar, community brand, Samut Songkram, natural product

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Authors: Xuan Linh Nguyen, Tien Yin Chou, Yao Min Fang, Feng Cheng Lin, Thanh Van Hoang, Yin Min Huang

Abstract:

In Vietnam, land use planning is the most important and powerful tool of the government for sustainable land use and land management. Nevertheless, many of land use planning locations are facing protests from surrounding households due to environmental impacts. In addition, locations are planned completely based on the subjective decisions of planners who are unsupported by tools or scientific methods. Hence, this research aims to assist the decision-makers in evaluating the rationality of planning locations by developing a Spatial Decision Support System (SDSS) using approaches of Geographic Information System (GIS)-based technology, Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) multi-criteria-based technique and Fuzzy set theory. An ArcGIS Desktop add-ins named SDSS-LUPA was developed to support users analyzing data and presenting results in friendly format. The Fuzzy-AHP method has been utilized as analytic model for this SDSS. There are 18 planned locations in Hung Ha district (Thai Binh province, Vietnam) as a case study. The experimental results indicated that the assessment threshold higher than 0.65 while the 18 planned locations were irrational because of close to residential areas or close to water sources. Some potential sites were also proposed to the authorities for consideration of land use planning changes.

Keywords: analytic hierarchy process, fuzzy set theory, land use planning, spatial decision support system

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